Secret Revealed
by Ekusu x Ekusu
Summary: Sasuke learns about the Nine Tales sealed in Naruto after Naruto is injured. How will he react? Read and Review please. [One Shot]


Author: Ekusu x Ekusu

Title: Secret Revealed

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Angst/Romance

Warning: Shounen-ai. Don't like don't read.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They are all copyright to their respective owners.

Ekusu: Sasuke and Naruto are already lovers in this. Enjoy.

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Secret Revealed

In the center of a clearing Naruto and Sasuke were once again involved in a late night sparing session. Having been practicing for a while they were both worn and tired. As they prepared to launch into the next round of attacks, however, a horde of kunai came flying at them. Instantly aware of the encroaching danger they easily dodged the attack and took off for opposite sides of the clearing, disappearing into the trees.

Checking behind him as he jumped into the trees, Sasuke counted three ninjas jump out of the forest to give chase. One of them went after Naruto, while the other two chased after him. Sasuke led them on a chase through the forest gaining some distance between himself and his pursuers.

Somersaulting through the air Sasuke landed on a sturdy branch, facing the direction the ninjas were coming from. Activating his sharingan he took off with immense speed towards the first of his pursuers. Catching him by surprise, Sasuke launched a couple of shuriken where he would be landing. As his attacker dodged the shuriken and tried to recover from the attack Sasuke appeared behind him and launched a kunai through the back of his neck. The unprepared ninja went down with a crash to the forest floor. 

Sasuke had jumped towards the other attacker even as the first was crashing to the forest floor. The noise had alerted his accomplice and he was a little better prepared. He launched his own shuriken at Sasuke even as Sasuke launched his. Pulling his sword out of its sheath on his back the ninja launched an all out attack of swings and slices, all of which Sasuke easily avoided.

Using his sharingan, Sasuke knew exactly where the sword would swing even before his attacker did. Upon finding the opening that he'd been waiting for he launched his kunai towards the heart of his attacker, even as he jumped behind him and sliced open his throat. Just as easily the second ninja also crashed noisily to the forest floor. 

After checking to make sure both the ninjas were dead, Sasuke whistled a signal into the night. After a couple of minutes he heard a response coming from the general direction he had come from, and he took off through the trees. Passing the clearing that they had been sparing in before, he paused and whistled again. When the response came he took off again. Running through the trees he signaled once again, and heard the response coming from the direction he was headed.

Jumping out of the trees Sasuke landed at the edge of a clearing. He was sure he had heard Naruto's signal from this area. Checking the area he spotted a body lying in the middle of the clearing. Hoping that it wasn't an injured Naruto, he jumped to the body.

He confirmed that it wasn't Naruto, but the ninja who had gone after him. He checked and made sure he was dead, then looking around he signaled again and waited for a response. It came a second later from the base of a tree at the opposite edge of the clearing. Jumping across the clearing, Sasuke stepped towards the tree.

A cloud crossing the face of the moon left the area in deep shadow but he was able to make out the figure of Naruto against the tree. He was standing slumped against the trunk of the tree; one arm hanging limply at his side the other wrapped tightly across his stomach.

"Naruto?" He called softly.

"Yea." Came the strained reply.

"Are you all right?" Sasuke questioned, knowing as he did what the answer would be. 

Naruto sounded tired and it was obvious from the way he was leaning against the tree and holding himself that he was injured. But he knew that Naruto wouldn't admit to it. He would just try and cover it all up with his usual smile and loud talk. Hiding his pain from the world, and him. It always hurt when Naruto did that. He didn't care if he hid things from everyone else but he wanted Naruto to be open and honest with him about everything.

"I'll be ok." Naruto responded shortly.

As the cloud obscuring the moon continued on its way, the moonlight illuminated the area. It was then that Sasuke noticed the blood that had leaked from beneath the arm Naruto had across his stomach. The bottom of his jacket and most of the front of his pants were soaked in blood.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked quietly, worry on his face as he stopped in front of him.

"He had a sword. When he charged at me with it, I jumped back away from his swing and threw a couple of kunai at him. Got him in the forehead, throat and heart, too. Unfortunately, his swing was faster than I thought and I didn't manage to dodge it completely." Naruto stated matter of factly. "It'll be ok. Just let me rest for a bit and then let's get back to the village." He continued, his usual fox smile firmly in place on his face.

The fox smile, however, couldn't completely hide the fact that he was in considerable pain. Sasuke figured his injury must be worse than even Naruto thought if he couldn't even hide the pain with his usual smile.

"Let me have a look at it, and I'll wrap it up." Sasuke said as he reached for Naruto's arm.

"NO!" Naruto all but yelled as he knocked Sasuke's hand away. "I said it was ok." 

The truth was it hurt like hell. But there was no way he was going to admit that to Sasuke, and he wasn't going to let him see it either. Since he'd been injured pretty badly he knew that the seal would be visible while the Nine Tales chakra helped speed up the healing process. He couldn't take the chance of Sasuke seeing the seal.

"What do you mean, 'It's ok.' The front of your shirt and pants are practically dyed a different color." Sasuke shouted, anger coloring his voice. "Just let me wrap it up. This is no time to be acting all tough."

Sasuke reached out to take his arm once more and Naruto again knocked his hand away.

"I said no." Naruto winced as the movement aggravated his injury. "Just leave it alone, it'll be ok."

Sasuke couldn't understand what Naruto's problem was, and he didn't care. All he understood was that his teammate and lover was standing in front of him badly injured and possibly bleeding to death. Sasuke was not going to sit by calmly and let that happen.

"Remember what Kakashi told us about taking care of our teammates?" Sasuke yelled at Naruto. "There's no way I'm going to just let you stand there and bleed to death." 

Not waiting for a response Sasuke reached out quickly and grabbed Naruto by the shoulders. Pulling him away from the tree he quickly tripped him to the ground. Even though he had tried to do it as gently as he could the act still managed to wrench a scream of pain from Naruto's throat. As Naruto tried to get back up, Sasuke straddled his legs and grabbed his hands.

"Settle down, Naruto. It'll be ok. I'm just going to wrap it up. There's nothing to worry about." Sasuke cajoled, trying to get Naruto to calm down. 

Finally realizing that there was no way he was going to stop Sasuke from looking at his wound and as a result seeing the seal, Naruto turned away, unwilling to face him.

Seeing that Naruto had finally given up Sasuke relaxed and released Naruto's arms to his sides. Unzipping Naruto's jacket to above the cut in his abdomen, he pulled out his kunai and cut the rest of his jacket, then he carefully pulled it away from the wound and to the side. Hearing a noise, Sasuke glanced up, and saw that Naruto was crying.

When Naruto realized that Sasuke was watching he brought his arms up to hide his face. Sasuke had no idea that the reason he was crying had nothing to do with the injury and everything to do with what he knew Sasuke was about to see, and how he was afraid of how Sasuke would react when he found out what it was.

Sasuke smiled a sad smile. The injury must have been quite painful for Naruto to be letting out tears like this. Using his kunai he cut Naruto's undershirt from bottom to top and carefully pulled the pieces to the side. Looking down at the wound he froze.

This wasn't the first time that Sasuke had seen Naruto's stomach. They'd been swimming together many times. They'd even been in the bath together before. In all the time he had been with Naruto, however, he had never seen what he now saw on Naruto's stomach.

Blood from the wound partially covered a weird mark on Naruto's stomach. The sword cut stretched from one side of his stomach to the other, neatly cutting the mark in half. Said mark seemed to be some kind of spiral. Starting at his bellybutton it spiraled out in the middle of his stomach. There were some other weird symbols that he didn't quite recognize in different places around the spiral. Sasuke looked up at Naruto, a questioning look in his eyes. Naruto, however, still had his face averted, and wouldn't look at him. 

Ignoring his urge to question Naruto about the mark on his stomach, he ripped Naruto's shirt into strips and got to the task of taking care of the wound. Taking one of the strips he carefully cleaned up the blood on his stomach. Taking another strip he very carefully cleaned the wound itself. As he was preparing to wrap the wound up, Sasuke noticed that the wound had quit bleeding. Not understanding why such a deep wound would have stopped bleeding already he took a closer look. Sasuke was shocked to see that even as he watched, the wound was healing.

As he finished wrapping the wound up, he realized that in order for it to have bled that much at the rate it was healing it would have had to have been a very deep cut. Any ordinary person should have died. Naruto himself should have been having problems with blood loss. But the wound appeared to pain him only mildly. 

Sasuke recognized that there was more going on than Naruto was letting him know. Since Naruto didn't appear to be having trouble with the injury, it had to be with something else. Taking his previous action into consideration, Sasuke realized that it could only be one thing. The mark on his stomach. Naruto had not wanted him to see the wound because then he would see the mark. Naruto had been trying to hide the mark. But why?

He helped Naruto up into a sitting position against the tree and crouched in front of him. Naruto still refused to meet his eyes. Reaching out he grasped Naruto's face in his hands and forced Naruto to look him in the eye. As Naruto finally met his eyes, he realized he was looking into a face no longer trying to hide anything behind a smile. It was easy to see the fear, hurt and pain in Naruto's eyes. Sasuke understood then, that the subject of the mark must have been a deep wound on Naruto's soul.

But Sasuke needed to know; no he had to know, so he questioned softly. "What is that mark and why didn't you want me to see it?"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly as he realized Sasuke knew that he had been trying to keep him from seeing the seal. He could also tell that Sasuke wasn't going to let it go. He looked determined to find out what the seal was.

Sighing deeply, Naruto leaned his head back against the tree and looked up into the night sky. The thing he had feared the most since the two of them had become lovers had come to pass and he had no idea how he was going to deal with it. What would he do if Sasuke rejected him? He didn't think he could handle that. It had hurt so much when he thought Iruka had rejected him, how much worse would it be coming from someone he loved. To have Sasuke look at him with the same eyes as the rest of the village would be impossible to bear. 

But he realized that there was no avoiding it. If he didn't tell him now or lied about what it was, and Sasuke eventually found out from someone else, he knew that that would be even more painful. He steeled himself against the rejection he feared would soon come and looking Sasuke in the eyes prepared to tell him the long held secret about what Uzumaki Naruto really was. 

"I didn't want you to see it because I knew if you saw it you would ask about it. And I was… am afraid of telling you about it." Naruto started. 

It was impossible to miss the fear in his eyes now, and Sasuke wondered what he was so afraid of. What could possibly be so bad about what he was about to tell him that it could put such fear into a person? At the same time he noticed the resolve in Naruto's eyes and knew that he was determined to tell him, regardless of how much it seemed to scare him. Reaching out he put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly, as he smiled at Naruto, willing him to go on. 

Naruto reached up and grasped Sasuke's hand with his trembling one as he continued. "You know about the Nine Tales Demon Fox that attacked the village twelve years ago, right?" He paused, noting the uncomprehending look on Sasuke's face as he nodded.

Gathering his courage he made the final plunge, hoping against hope that everything would turn out all right. "I'm the Nine Tales Demon Fox. The Fourth Hokage used an advanced jutsu and sealed the Nine Tales in me right after I was born. That mark on my stomach is the seal. The seal becomes visible when I use the Nine Tales chakra, or when I get really injured and it's helping to heal me." Naruto finished up, voice shaking.

The tears had started falling in earnest the moment he had seen the look of shock and horror on Sasuke's face. He had felt Sasuke's hand freeze on his shoulder as he had spoken those final words and he had let his hand slide off of Sasuke's and drop into his lap. He couldn't bear to look at Sasuke's face anymore and dropped his head, the tears streaming silently down his face. Naruto shut his eyes as the well of emotions broke free and he started crying uncontrollably.

Sasuke crouched in front of Naruto, too shocked to do anything. It all made since now. He could understand why all the adults glared at Naruto with those cold eyes. He shivered slightly as he remembered those eyes. They saw him, not as Naruto, but as the Nine Tales Demon Fox that had killed so many of the villagers. 

Naruto had done nothing but be born and he had earned the hate of an entire village. They had sacrificed him to save themselves, and then they turned around and hated him for it. Looking down at Naruto, crying uncontrollably in front of him, he finally realized what the fear he had seen in Naruto's eyes had been.

Fear of rejection. Naruto was afraid that he was going to reject him and hate him, as did everybody else that knew of his identity. He had been afraid that he would now have to live with not only the entire village but also the one he loved looking at him with cold eyes of hate. 

It was no wonder, really, as far as he knew Iruka and Kakashi were probably the only adults who knew about it and still accepted Naruto for who he was and not for the demon sealed in him. All the other adults hated him for something he had had no control over and no part of. Most of the kids had just followed their parents lead and shunned him for no reason.

As Naruto continued to cry, Sasuke understood what it was he needed to do. Naruto needed reassurance that Sasuke still accepted him, that Sasuke wouldn't turn away from him, that he was still loved. Gripping Naruto's shoulders tightly Sasuke pulled Naruto to him. Ignoring the cry of pain Naruto made, he hugged him tightly.

"You are not the Nine Tales Demon Fox." He spoke clearly in Naruto's ear. "You are Naruto."

Naruto raised his tear stained face to look at Sasuke. In a trembling voice he questioned. "You don't care that I'm the Nine Tales?"

Sasuke sat back and pulled Naruto into his lap. Hugging him again tightly, he then drew back. Cupping Naruto's face in his hands he looked Naruto in the eyes.

"I already told you you're not the Nine Tales. Don't ever say that again. I love you. No matter what happens, I will always be with you, and I will always protect you." Sasuke told him firmly.

"Really?" Naruto asked timidly, hope in his eyes.

"Yes." Sasuke replied honest sincerity in his eyes.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled happily wrapping his arms around Sasuke to hug him back, a smile on his face.

"I love you, Naruto." Sasuke whispered, hugging Naruto tightly.

"I love you too, Sasuke." Naruto replied, as he pulled back and kissed Sasuke on the lips.

The End

Omake

Sasuke woke with the sun shining in through the window. Propping himself up on his elbow he looked at Naruto. Naruto was still sound asleep, a cute little smile on his lips. Sasuke hoped that Naruto was having a good dream about him. 

Sasuke pulled the covers down, careful to not wake Naruto. He unbuttoned Naruto's pajama shirt and pulled it to the side. Pulling a kunai from the headboard he cut the bandages around Naruto's stomach, careful to not cut him. Replacing the kunai, he pulled the bandages away and inspected Naruto's stomach.

Just as Naruto had told him, there was no trace of the wound from the night before, not even a scar. He ran his hands lightly over Naruto's stomach. Sasuke couldn't help but think that as long as it helped protect his loved one from harm who cared what was sealed in him. Leaning down, Sasuke placed a kiss on Naruto's bellybutton, whispering a silent thank you to the Nine Tales for protecting Naruto.

"Sa..suke?" Naruto mumbled groggily, waking from his slumber.

"What, Naruto?" Sasuke whispered, rolling above Naruto and peering into his eyes.

"It wasn't just a dream, was it?" Naruto questioned, looking hopefully up at Sasuke.

"No, love, it wasn't." Sasuke replied.

Naruto's face broke out in the most beautiful smile Sasuke had ever seen, as he continued. "I will love and protect you forever." And unable to help himself he leaned in and sealed their lips together in a deep kiss.

Owari

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Ekusu: Inspiration for this fic came from Japanese fics that I read, dealing with Sasuke finding out about the Nine Tales. So I took the idea of him finding out and this is what came out. 

It was originally thought up as a manga, but since I can't draw worth anything, I tried my best to put it in words. It turned out all right, but the imagery I had for the manga version of it seemed so much better. If only I could draw. (sighs deeply) Well review please and let me know what you thought of it.


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